CHAPTER 1 - SET

STANDARD AND IMPORTANT FORMULAE

Set:-A set is a well defined collection of objects. A set is described either in set builder form or
tabular form.
Null Set:-A set consisting of no elements is called the null set and is denoted by ∅.
singleton set :-A set consisting of single elements is called singleton set.
Finite and Infinite Sets:-A set consisting of a definite number of elements is called a finite set,
otherwise the set is called an infinite set.
Cardinal Number:-The number of elements in a finite set A is called its cardinal number or order
and is defined by n (A)
Equal Sets:-Two sets A and B are equal if they have exactly the same elements.
Subset:-A set A is said to be a subset of a set B, if every element of A is also an element of B.
Interval as subsets of R If a, b are real number such that a < b, then the set
a) {x : x 𝜖𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 ≤ 𝑥 ≤ 𝑏} is called the closed interval [a, b]
b) {x, x 𝜖𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 < 𝑥 < 𝑏} is called the open interval (a, b).
c) {x : x 𝜖𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 ≤ 𝑥 < 𝑏} is called the semi-open or semi-closed interval [a, b).
d) {x : x 𝜖𝑅𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 < 𝑥 ≤ 𝑏} is called the semi-open or semi-closed interval (a, b].

Power Set:-The collection of all subsets of a set A is called the power set of A and is denoted by
P(A).

The symmetric different of two sets A and B is the set (A – B) U (B – A) and is denoted by A ∆ B.

Complement of a Set:-The complement of a subset A of universal set U is the set of all those
elements of U which are not the elements of A. The complement of A is denoted by A’ or A c.

The total number of subsets of a finite set consisting of n elements is 2n.

Operations on Sets
• A ∪ 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝑜𝑟𝑥 ∈ 𝐵} 𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑥 ∈ 𝐵}𝐴 − 𝐵 = {𝑥 ∶ 𝑥 ∈ 𝐴𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑥 ∉ 𝐵}
• 𝐴 ∪ 𝐴 = 𝐴𝑎𝑛𝑑𝐴 ∩ 𝐴 = 𝐴𝐴 ∩ 𝜑 = 𝐴𝑎𝑛𝑑𝐴 ∩ 𝑈 = 𝐴
• (𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) ∪ 𝐶 = 𝐴 ∪ (𝐵 ∪ 𝐶) and (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) ∪ 𝐶 = 𝐴 ∩ (𝐵 ∪ 𝐶)
• 𝐴 ∪ (𝐵 ∩ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) ∩ (𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) and 𝐴 ∩ (𝐵 ∪ 𝐶) = (𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) ∪ (𝐴 ∩ 𝐶)
• (𝑨 ∪ 𝑩)′ = 𝑨′ ∩ 𝑩′ 𝒂𝒏𝒅(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩)′ = A’ ∪ 𝑩′ .

Important Formulae to Solve problems (4 Marks)

• 𝒏(𝑨 ∪ 𝑩) = 𝒏(𝑨) + 𝒏(𝑩) − 𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩)
• 𝑛(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵) = 𝑛(𝐴) + 𝑛(𝐵) ⇔ 𝐴, 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑛𝑜𝑛 − 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑠
• 𝒏(𝑨 − 𝑩) = 𝒏(𝑨) − 𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩)𝒊. 𝒆. , 𝒏(𝑨 − 𝑩) + 𝒏(𝑨 + 𝑩) = 𝒏(𝑨)
• 𝑛(𝐴 ∪ 𝐵 ∪ 𝐶) = 𝑛(𝐴) + 𝑛(𝐵) + 𝑛(𝐶) − 𝑛(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵) − 𝑛(𝐵 ∩ 𝐶) − 𝑛(𝐶 ∩ 𝐴) + 𝑛(𝐴 ∩ 𝐵 ∩ 𝐶)
• Number of elements in exactly two of sets A, B and C
= 𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩) + 𝒏(𝑩 ∩ 𝑪) + 𝒏(𝑪 ∩ 𝑨) − 𝟑𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩 ∩ 𝑪)
• Number of elements in exactly one of sets A, B and C
= 𝒏(𝑨) + 𝒏(𝑩) + 𝒏(𝑪) − 𝟐𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩) − 𝟐𝒏(𝑩 ∩ 𝑪) − 𝟐𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑪) + 𝟑𝒏(𝑨 ∩ 𝑩 ∩ 𝑪)